The TwentySecond
by udon'tknowmebutiknowme
Summary: future fic. Rory and Jess were together for a few months, but he left again. Now it's just Rory and Jessie, her baby girl. How will Jess react to being a father? NOW COMPLETED. please R
1. Chapter 1

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**A/N: I suddenly just inspiration for this story last night, around midnight and immediately started to write it before I lost it. (Which I often do) So I'm typing it up now (no duh) and I really hope u like it. It isn't much, one shot so far, but might make it longer if need be.**

**Back round info for this fic: Lorelai and Luke got married end of season 6 when she asked him to, she never slept with Christopher. Soon after Lorelai got pregnant and gave birth to twins, a girl and boy. Rory broke up with Logan at graduation (that part's the same). 16 months ago Rory and Jess got back together for 2 months, but he left again. Rory found out later that she was pregnant, but never told Jess. She named the child Jessie, who is now 7 months old. And…I think that's it. Oh! Rory and Jessie live in Luke's old apartment, Luke and Lorelai put an addition on their house. **

**The Twenty-Second**

Rory sipped her coffee as she wrote the last sentence of her article. She had wanted to finish before Jessie woke up from her afternoon nap.

As Lorelai often said, Jessie was the cutest baby in the entire world. Rory often agreed.

Jessie had her father's chocolaty brown eyes and unruly almost black hair. But her mother's porcelain skin and smile, one that Lorelai claimed all responsibility for.

Rory checked her watch. She still had about twenty minutes before she had to wake up Jessie. Rory decided to get it; she'd been planning on doing it all day, but was waiting for a quiet moment to actually do.

She got up and rummaged around in the back of her closet.

"I don't know how the hell Luke lived here for as log as he did," She muttered to herself. That reminded her that she had dinner with Lorelai tonight. Now that Rory didn't have to go to Emily's for Friday night dinner, Lorelai had them at the Crap Shack instead. Minus the Emily and Richard, of course.

Rory privately thought it was only because Lorelai couldn't remember what she used to do on Friday nights that she kept the dinners up, but kept that to herself.

She finally found the box she was looking for and placed it on her bed. It was a medium sized moving box, and even though she'd been living in Luke's old apartment for over a year, she wasn't planning on unpacking it any time soon.

It was her Jess box.

She hid it in her closet and every month on the twenty-second (that was their anniversary) he would open it up and look through everything. Jessie also happened to be born on the twenty-second. But that was _pure_ coincidence.

No one knew about the box, or what she did every month. She didn't want them to think she was pining. Which she wasn't.

Was she?

_'No'_, she told herself firmly. _'You're remembering. There's a difference. A huge difference.'_

She carefully opened the worn box and started to remove things from it.

There was the shirt he let her borrow and she'd never returned. About two dozen books he had either written in or bought for her, and about thirty CDs that he gave her. The earplugs from the concert he had take her to; plus the t-shirt from the same concert. Her Bid-A-Basket, from when she was seventeen. The teddy bear from the winter carnival. And her bridesmaid dress from Sokkie's wedding...this one as her favorite though. Luke had made her a photo album of all the pictures of Rory and Jess. He had given it to her right after Jessie was born. There were pictures of them talking at the counter, reading at the bridge, watching movies, kissing, him taking her order at Luke's. Lorelai had taken those, she had been in a candid picture phase for a while.

Rory finished the album right as Jessie began to whimper. Rory slowly re-packed the box and shoved it into the back of her closet once again.

She quickly crossed the apartment and entered her daughter's room. Lane had helped decorate it, it had a music theme which Jessie seemed to love. She got something at least from both her parents.

"Shh," Roy whispered picking the infant up. "It's alright...shh...come on, mommy's here...shh," Finaly te baby quieted down and Rory gently tickled her, causing Jessie to giggle and drool.

Rory laughed and hugged her daughter closer to her.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

**A/N: okay, i reposted this cuz i realized it didn't have a real ending so yeah. Hope you liked it, oh, and I'm def. gonna keep going w/ this story, butI'm not with And Then There Were Three, too much goning on. I start _highschool_****in a couple days** **so I'm gonna try posting as much as I can _while_ I can. Now if you would press the pretty button I might update sooner...**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: okay, here's chapter 2! Yay cuz I wasn't planning on ever writing a second chapter, so I wanna thank Just A Girl From The Hollow x3 for being my BETA and giving me ideas. Also; Curley, contygoldbarg, and moonlight123 for you're great reviews! Thanks so much! **

**Chapter 2**

_Ring Ring_

Rory rolled over as the phone rang for the third time that morning. It was technically six o'clock in the morning and she had just gotten Jessie back to sleep an hour ago. Rory ignored it the first two times to let the answering machine pick up but whoever it was kept calling.

"Ugh…whoever it is, I'm gonna kill 'em…" She muttered as she slowly got up and made her way over to the phone.

"'Lo?" She muttered sleepily.

"Rory?"

"_Jess_?" Rory asked disbelievingly.

"Hey, whatcha ya doing?" He asked smirking.

"Jess you idiot," Rory said in mock anger.

"What I do now?" He asked in disbelief.

"You promised to write and call that's what. I haven't heard from you in three months!"

"Sorry, been a little busy," Jess was instantly a little relieved; he had thought for a minute that she was actually pissed off.

"Uh-huh…sure you were. So where _is_ the infamous Jess Mariano?" Rory asked suppressing a laugh.

"Uh…about that…I kinda thought I'd come by and see you so…" Rory took a breath. Even thought they were friends and occasionally talked, Jess had no idea about Jessie, and Rory wanted to keep it that way. "I'm…kinda at the door to Luke's apartment…" He said carefully. He was hoping to surprise her for her birthday. Cause he was just that sappy.

Rory dropped the phone. "Shit," She muttered. She slowly walked towards the door and swung it open.

There he was, Stars Hollow's one and only bad boy, leaning against the door frame like he owned it.

"_Shit, shit, shit," _she thought to herself as she put on a fake smile and hugged him.

Jess hugged her back feeling a little confused. Why was she pretending to smile? Wasn't she happy to see him? God, what if she wasn't happy to see him? What if she was seeing someone else? _"This is why I don't like spur of the moment road trips," _he thought.

He pulled back and held her by the shoulders so he could look at her clearly.

"Hey, what's up? You don't look all that happy to see me. You did say when we broke up that I should come visit, right?" He asked.

"Uh…yeah…sorry, I just haven't seen you in forever, I'm a little shocked. Plus I've had absolutely no coffee at this god forsaken hour of six o'clock in the morning," she said, trying to joke around and make him believe nothing was weird with her.

"Ror, you _suck_ at lying," Jess said, still holding her shoulders. "Can we just skip the lying and avoiding bit and go straight to the you telling me what's bothering you part?" Jess asked. She really did suck at lying. Lorelai was right; she always did the blinky thing.

"Uh…no?" She smiled hopefully.

"Uh-huh, you are _so _not getting off that easy," Jess said shaking his head and smirking.

"Ugh…fine. But can we at least go back to sleep for a couple hours?" She said, hoping to buy some time to think of what she'd say.

Jess shrugged. "Sure, I'll just go crash in my old room, the bed's still there right?" He asked as him crossed over to the door and threw it open.

"Jess! No! Wait!" Rory cried, but it was too late, Jess had seen the crib and everything else.

**A/N: Thought I'd leave off with a little cliffhanger cuz I'm just _that_ evil. Cliffhangers are _wayyyyy_ more fun if you're the one doing it instead of the one left hanging! Until next chapter! Which, btw, I promise to be very soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I know, I lied! I'm SORRY! I have been so busy it's not even funny. BUT as a peace offering, I am writing a REALLY LONG chapter. Oh, and Gracille helped me write this, just giving her credit. Also, thanks for reviews and to my BETA, Cat.**

**BTW, there IS some language in this, so BEWARE. **

Jess POV

"Jess, I…" Rory says desperately.

I couldn't believe this. I and come back after all this time to try and fix things with her and she has an effing _kid_?

"Uh…so, something you want to tell me?" I asked bitterly.

"Jess, you don't understand…she…she doesn't have her dad," Rory said hesitantly.

Huh?

"So…where is it's dad?" Rory tensed.

"Her. She's not an 'it' she's a girl,"

"Sorry, where's _her_ dad?"

"He's here now…" She said quietly.

Huh? What does she…shit.

"You…you mean…she's mine?" I asked incredulously.

"Yea. She's…she's ours,"

I couldn't process this, too much was going on and I knew the second I accepted it I'd wake up from a very not-funny dream. This…this couldn't be true.

I pinched my arm.

It hurt.

Fuck. I think this is real. Fuck fuck fuck _fuck_.

"Why?" I asked suddenly and Rory's head jerked up.

"Why what?"

"Why didn't you tell me? Were you ever going to tell me? Or were you just going to hope I never showed up unexpectedly?" I shot at her and she looked at her feet.

"I…I wasn't sure you would want her…things were so good, even though we broke up, we were still friends and talking regularly…and I thought if you thought something was tying you down, you'd leave again," She said to the floor.

What the fuck? I'd stay for my own kid! How could she even think that I wouldn't?

"_Well, you don't have the best track record,"_ the honest voice inside me said.

Well…I'd change for my kid. I wouldn't do what my dad did at least.

"_What's to say you wouldn't run the second it got hard?" _The voice replied.

"I…I wouldn't have run…" I said to the floor and I could feel Rory's eyes on me.

"I…I know too. I was stupid and pregnant. I'm sorry,"

There was an awkward silence after that. Suddenly though Rory was hugging me and crying on my shoulder.

"I'm so glad you're here," she sobbed

I rubbed her back where I knew it calmed her and whispered soothingly in her ear.

I'd never been able to comfort people before, so I was always surprised when it came so easily when it came to Rory.

After she stopped crying she still didn't let go of me, just held on tighter.

Suddenly, it, I mean, _she_ started crying.

Rory pulled back and wiped her eyes on her sleeves and went into my old room.

She picked the thing, sorry, baby, up and started to rub her back just like I'd been doing to her moment's previously.

In seconds the baby quieted.

"Weird being in here with all this baby stuff in it?" she asked casually.

"Yea…" I replied, I had just been thinking the same thing.

"You want to hold her?" she asked, she must have noticed me staring at the baby. I did want to see her, I mean she _was_ my kid after all.

"Sure, but you're gonna have to show me how cuz I have I'll probably drop her, and I'd rather not do that," I said.

Rory laughed and walked over to me.

"Okay, this hand…here…and this hand…here," she said positioning my hands and gently placing the baby-_my baby_-in my arms.

She was tiny, probably could have held her in one hand, which I wasn't going to dare doing, but the point was that she was _that_ tiny.

She had the cutest eyes…they were kinda familiar actually…oh god, _my kid _has_ my eyes!_

I rocked her a little and she smiled at me.

I looked up at Rory feeling like an idiot that I was so excited, but come on, my _kid_ just _smiled_ at _me_!

She laughed and leaned over cooing. "Hey sweetie, you like daddy, huh? Yep, me too," she said and grinned at me.

Suddenly a thought struck me.

"Rory, what's her _name_?"

"Oh…" She blushed. Why was she blushing? Did she name her Gilgamesh or something?

"I…I named her Jessica…but…but everybody calls her Jessie…" she said looking at her shoes.

She named our daughter after me?

I smirked a little to hide all the mushy gooey feelings I was trying not to feel and said, "Huh. Nice name,"

She grinned and smacked my arm.

"Hey, watch it, I'm holding our kid here," I said.

We shared a comfortable silence, me looking at my daughter and Rory looking at me looking at my daughter. After several minutes Rory's face slowly was becoming worried.

"Jess…what now?"

**A/N: I know, another cliffhanger, but I have decided that this will be my cliffhanger story. Deal. But, this WAS longer than any of my other chapters for any of my stories, so be happy. As always, all comments and suggestions are welcome, all you have to do is press the pretty little button…you know you want to! ; )**


	4. Chapter 4

Jess' POV

_Jess…what now?_

"Now we…talk," I said simply.

"Talk?" she asked confused.

"Yea, we gotta know what we've been doing the past few months. Plus I want to know more about Jessie,"

"Okay…well, you want to go first?" she asked as she sat on the couch with Jessie in her lap.

"Sure. I wrote a book. A squeal to 'The Subsect.' That's part of why I came, to show you," I replied, sitting in a chair across for him.

"Really? Oh, that's so cool, I knew you'd do it! I knew you could make something of yourself!" she said, genuinely excited. "What's it called? I wanna buy it!"

"Well, it hasn't been published yet, I uh…see what you thought of the dedication before I sent it off to the publishers," I muttered, this was harder than I figured.

"What…? Why?"

I pulled the scrap of paper I used to write it down on and handed it to her silently.

_To the girl who told me I could do anything, who made me go for more, who made me love._

I saw tears come into her eyes. I hated to see her cry, good or bad tears; I leant forward and brushed them away with my thumb.

"Jess…that's…that's the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me," she whispered.

She looked up at me with tears clinging to her lashes and my breath caught.

This is why I had come back.

For her.

For this.

I slowly leant forward and I felt more than saw her do the same. Our lips brushed and suddenly we remembered. She leant further into me and I parted her lips as our tongues dueled for control. We continued for a minute, but before we could do anything else a giggle interrupted us.

Jessie looked up at us and grinned, begging for attention.

Rory rolled her eyes but I chuckled and picked her up.

"This okay?" I asked as I set her down on my knee facing me.

"Yeah. She loves it if you bounce her a little too," Rory said, still blushing slightly.

"Tell me about her," I asked after I had been bouncing her lightly for a few seconds.

"Like what?"

"Everything. Anything. Labor, her full name, likes, dislikes, whatever," I said shrugging.

"Well, I was in labor for 13 hours and 27 minutes," she started.

"Who was with you?" I asked looking down, a little ashamed that I hadn't been there.

"Mom, I was there when her twins were born and she wanted to be there for me then,"

"I'm sorry," I muttered

"Jess, don't, you didn't know, it's not your fault,"

"What else?"

"Her full name is Jessica Lorelai Gilmore-Mariano, uhh, she hates formula, she gets about 9 hours of sleep a night and 10 when she doesn't nap,"

Jessie smiled at me and I grinned back as Rory paused for a second.

"What else? The twins love her, they like to help baby sit. Mom spoils her rotten, so does the rest of the town. Luke adores her but pretends not to,"

Rory paused again and I bounced Jessie a little faster and she giggled again.

"She hates rattles, loves her teddy bear, hasn't had her first word and should start teething in a few months," Rory finished.

"When did you start living here?" I asked, glancing around the apartment.

"Oh, when I was about five…_six_ months, school was out, I needed more help and I wanted to be closer to mom. I took the next semester off though, I had just had her and I couldn't leave for so long yet,"

I nodded silently. If I had been there she wouldn't have to have taken off from school or move back here.

"But, I'm back now and I'm taking a couple extra courses so I'll graduate on time," she said nodding.

"Oh," I said quietly.

"Jess, really it's okay. It's not your fault, you didn't know,"

"I could have though! I should have supported you! I should have been in there with you!"

"Jess…"

"I should know off the top of my head whether or not she likes formula. I should know how long you were in labor, helped you pick out a name and should _be_ there. For you and for her." I was so frustrated, not angry, never angry, not at her. But I didn't want her to think I let her down again or that she couldn't trust me.

"Jess! It's _my_ fault; I decided not to tell you and I _know _it was a mistake. Yes, you'll have some catching up to do if you want to be in her life now but that has nothing to do with you." She stated firmly.

"I can be in her life now?" I asked

"Well…uh, don't you?" she asked hopefully and somewhat fearfully.

Instead of answering I held Jessie with one arm as I wrapped my other arm around her waist and softly kissed her.

"Okay then," she whispered after I pulled back, her eyes still shut and her lips parted.

I chuckled and stood gingerly, still getting used to carrying little Jessie. But it wasn't bad. I think I'd like having her, and Rory, to look after now.


End file.
